Fata Morgana

When morning came the next day, Flare set forth on a three-man griffon scouting party to patrol the seas for the Western Navies. At high noon, she returned with her griffons and landed on the Legrassi’s deck with a smile on her face—but traces of uncertainty as well.

Small blips, almost the size of a pea, appeared from the distant horizon. Haruki narrowed his eyes and, stare piercing the waving heat, made out the shape of approaching boats. Around six of them.

Haruki, Anemone, and Warren approached Flare, though she was the first to speak.

“Tie her up,” she told Warren and pointed at Anemone. “She’s still our prisoner. Don’t want her escaping now, do we?”

Warren produced a length of rope, and with a crestfallen expression, bound Anemone’s arms to her torso and behind her.

“Princess—I mean, Flare. Captain.”

“Haven’t I told you not to call me that?”

“We have the Ka-Ilyan princess here,” Flare said, prodding Anemone’s shoulder with a finger. His hoarse tone was enough to tell everyone he was more than simply miffed. “What am I supposed to call you then?”

Flare sighed. Without a word, she took Flare and moved her forward the deck.

Haruki glared at her with a steely stare. “You’re not gonna rescind your decision?”

“Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t. Deal’s done. All there is left is to collect on both sides.”

With a heavy step forward, Warren spoke in a low, worried tone.

“Why didn’t you ask us before you made the decision?”

“Because I wouldn’t expect you to understand.” Flare shot a glance at Warren, her body shaking.

“We don’t want this,” Warren said. “But even now, us Redwing Pirates will follow you wherever you go. After the captain’s passing, we owe you our lives. If it has to come to this, then so be it. But I wish we could’ve talked things out more.”

Flare exhaled sharply. “I’m sorry. Made the decision in the heat of the moment,” she said, though her words struck half-heartedly.

A light chuckle rang out from Anemone. “You’re so irresponsible, Miss Flare.”

“What…?”

“Making a decision like this without regard for what your people think,” she said. “I did that too, so I can’t justify my protestations against you. But I respect it, somewhat. That makes us similar, in a way.”

“I don’t fancy myself being compared to a leaf-lover,” Flare huffed.

“But I’m comparing, and there’s nothing you can do about it,” Anemone said, tone high and playful.

Haruki could swear he saw her stick out her tongue for a moment. He thought it cute.

The distant boats began to close in from the horizon, faster than Haruki would think. Then, as they grew nearer, he could see the ships begin to leave the water’s surface.

Huh? Is that a mirage? Fata Morgana?

Then he noticed the balloons.

Blimps, they were.

Large boats, only a smidge smaller than the largest Legrassi ship in the Redwing’s three-ship fleet. Their bottoms seemed to skim above the water several meters. In place of sails were long, hotdog-shaped balloons spanning the length of the ships themselves, which evidently allowed them to fly over the water. The closer they came, the higher they flew.

“Are those things… flying?” he asked, bewildered.

“Well, yeah?” Flare remarked, as if what Haruki just said was common knowledge. “They’re airships. I mean…” she glanced briefly at Anemone. “Guess a leaf-lover and an otherworlder wouldn’t know.”

“Elaborate.”

“Only the Federacy has the capability to build and fly those things. But the Federacy has their claws across every other sea in the world, so you’re bound to see one in your travels. Ka-Ilyah’s one of the only places they haven’t touched.”

Haruki’s thoughts drifted to Marina, who was most definitely some kind of Federacy spy. He wanted to rebuke her with a resounding “Not even,” but held his tongue.

Telling her wouldn’t change anything.

“I see,” he muttered as he watched these blimps come closer.

“They say the blimps were made with otherworlder technology and know-how. I thought you’d know what they were.”

Haruki’s eyes widened. “Wait, what did you just say?”

Flare titled her head. “I said, you, an otherworlder, should—”

A glint flickered in the distance from the bow of one of the ships. Haruki had no reason to trust that glint, and already had a feeling Lias was crazy enough to try something.

Adrenaline rose to his arms and legs. “Watch out!”

He lunged at Flare and pushed her and himself down.

A long, steel rod whipped through the air, so fast it tore the wind around it. It slammed overhead Haruki and Flare and further into the ship.

The rod impaled Flare’s griffon onto the walls of the deck, rending flesh and rupturing the wall. Flare’s eyes rounded in horror as she watched her griffon explode into gore, and thousands of splintered wood explode every which direction.

“W-Wha…?”

Warren shouted a rallying cry. “We’re under attack! Battle stations, now!”

“I—”

Haruki rose onto his feet and helped Flare up. He locked her in an intense, stern gaze. “They’re double crossing us.”

“Yeah, but—”

“Flare!”

“Titanseye or not, I don’t think they ever had intended to keep you alive. Doesn’t matter if it’s your fault or not.” He shook her gently, just enough to knock her out of her stupor. “What do we do now?”

Flare’s jaw slacked. Confusion danced in her eyes and her face reddened with shame. “I don’t know—”

Anemone stumbled forward, still tied. “Haruki! Flare!” she said, pointing with a head turn towards the fleet. “Look!”

Long, blue entities began to rise from under the water like whales emerging into the surface for air.

But these weren’t whales.

Though they were shaped like whales, they had no face—only a front ending in a convex. In places of skin and blubber, sheets of dark blue-gray iron covered it instead. They weren’t alive. They had no soul. But someone was definitely manning these machines.

They couldn’t be anything else but—

Submarines?

“Whales!” Flare yelled at the top of her lungs—despite them not being whales at all.

In fact—were mammals that resembled whales even called “whales” in this world?

A pair of Whales swiftly surrounded the Legrassi I, and its topside leveled with the deck of the ship. The two other boats in the Redwing fleet steered to block their advance, but ballista shots from the encroaching Western Navy fleet pelted them, puncturing their bottomsides.

Before the Redwings could react, multiple hatches opened on the submarines, and from them, outpoured squads of armed soldiers. The soldiers jumped onto the deck and boarded the ship.

The Redwing Pirates nearest the edges of the ship drew their weapons, but the Federacy soldiers struck first. Blades in hand, they swiped at a pirate on each side with practiced ease, disarming them and wounding them each with gashes on the chest. The pirates fell to the ground in excruciating pain, but alive.

Flare drew the curved sword from her belt and faced one side. Warren drew an axe and faced the other way. Haruki and Anemone went between them.

“Warren,” Flare called. “Take the princess somewhere safe.”

“Safe? Flare, there is no safe here anymore.”

Haruki grit his teeth. “They got us sandwiched alright.”

Anemone leaned on Haruki. She was shaking, but her expression held a firm resoluteness that seemed to betray her nerves.

The pirates formed rows to block the Federacy soldiers’ advance towards Anemone, but with every soldier downed by them, two dwarves fell in their places.

“Step aside!” Flare shouted. She held out her palm, and fired a football-sized orb of fire at the Federacy squad in front of her.

The fireball exploded into blazing cinders, and its force threw the armed men off the deck and into the waters below. She conjured another and threw it backwards in an alleyoop throw, sending another batch of soldiers plummeting.

Warren charged at the freshly singed and staggered soldiers, jumped, and slammed down with a heavy swing, injuring one and stumbling others into the sea.

The soldiers struck back at Warren, but a row of other dwarves shoved them back, forming another wall in front of him.

Anemone scrunched her brows and focused on the side behind Flare. A forceful gale swept forward from behind her.

Pirates grabbed hold of the deck’s railings, while the Federacy soldiers struggled to keep on their feet. With a mighty shout, she concentrated her magic forward and hurtled the soldiers off the deck, flying into the sea and into the ocean. Some crashed onto the hull of the submarine with a heavy, metallic thud.

But the soldiers that fell, though injured, recovered and boarded again. The dwarves were dwindling faster than the Federacy soldiers would become too injured to continue.

“Stay put!” barked Flare, as she rushed into the fray with blade in hand.

“They just keep coming!” Haruki shouted. “I hate just standing around here!”

Haruki hopped forward and held out an open palm. He thought of blades. Swords. Then he thought of the wind.

A surge of energy flowed from his chest, as if some divine force had plugged a socket in his ribs. The energy rushed to his hands. An invisible force erupted from his palm, feeling like blood discharging from his fingers.

Wind flushed down from the heavens and swept forward. Blades of winds sliced spear tips and light chain mail in a flurry of invisible swords. Soldiers fell to the ground, wounded and weakened.

A searing pain erupted all over Haruki’s body. His muscles tightened and his skin pricked his insides for a moment. He knelt down to control the pain.

“Haruki!” Anemone hurried to Haruki’s side, though she stopped herself from kneeling.

He held a hand out at Anemone. “No—no, I’m fine. It just hurt a little.”

“That was too much magic! If you wanted, I could’ve just—”

“You were busy, so no.”

“Haruki, you…”

Robed soldiers popped out of the submarine hatches, and from there, held out a glowing, crudely cut blue crystal. It glowed with a faint white light.

When Flare tossed a fireball, it fizzled inches away in front of the soldiers. With seemingly renewed resolve, they marched forward, batting away any intercepting dwarves with trained ease.

She tried conjuring another fireball, but it sizzled out before it even formed. Suddenly, she crouched in agony, holding her head as if she had a migraine.

Then, Haruki’s head hurt—as if his brain was made into a pincushion by forces unknown. Anemone followed suit. Haruki knew she and Flare were likely experiencing the same thing.

“Shit… Anti… Magic… Forces…” Flare uttered in painful defiance.

Looking up, Haruki noticed some soldiers suffering the same, but most were not. None of the dwarves seemed affected too. It must only affect people with magical prowess.

But after a moment, the pain disappeared. Haruki rose on his feet. Though—the girls were still writing in agony.

When the soldiers finally neared Anemone, he grabbed Flare’s sword and swung at the nearest soldier. He simply swatted Haruki in the abdomen with a casual but firm hilt bash.

Haruki fell to the floor, clutching his stomach. He’d never been punched this hard in his life. He felt like dying, even though he wasn’t. Vision blurry, he reached out to the soldier grabbing Anemone.

“Stop…!”

The soldier just casually marched out off the deck, a wall of other soldiers separating him from the rambunctious crowd of dwarves. These dwarves, even with their inhuman strength, simply could not surpass the skills of these Federacy troops.

He took Anemone down the hatch and into the submarine. The robed figures followed suit, along with the other troops who boarded the Legrassi.

Pain finally left Flare, and as soon as she could, grabbed the nearest fallen axe and rushed to the edge of the deck.

But it was too late.

The submarines had already left. She couldn’t make the jump even if she tried.

Fallen, injured dwarves littered the deck of the Legrassi I. Blood, broken metal, and splintered wood was all that was left. Not even a single fallen Federacy soldier.

The Redwing Pirates were truly outmatched—in every way that mattered.

“Goddammit!” Flare struck the railing of the ship’s edge, drawing blood from her own fist.

Goddammit, indeed. Feeling a surge of impatience rise from Haruki’s gut, he rushed to the back of the Legrassi.

He glanced at the fleet of blimps—airships, Flare called them, floating a distance away.

Then he shifted his attention to the chain tied to the backside of the ship—then to the Kenichi Modern.